OAN’s Brooke Mallory
12:40 PM – Tuesday, November 21, 2023
A former mayor of Maryland and prominent LGBTQ+ activist who was found guilty earlier this year in a horrific case involving child pornography was given a 30-year prison sentence on Monday.
As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Patrick Wojahn, who resigned from his position as mayor of College Park, Maryland, on March 2nd, entered a guilty plea to 140 counts of child pornography.
According to state law, he will be up for parole in 7.5 years after receiving a sentence of 150 years overall, of which 30 years are suspended, as reported by The Washington Post.
Investigators connected his official email address to an account that had shared disturbing, illegal photos, which led to his imprisonment.
The judge presiding over the case, Karen Mason, expressed sympathy for the former mayor’s nauseating collection of media.
“I do sense the remorsefulness,” said Mason on Monday during the hearing, when prosecutors read hours of victim statements. “And I do know you take responsibility.”
Investigators discovered that Wojahn’s College Park government email address was specified as the Kik account’s recovery email by means of a subpoena.
Authorities say that the ex-mayor hid his location when logging into the account by using a virtual private network, and they have since linked Wojahn’s phone number and home IP address to it.
There were even more disturbing graphic photos that were found uploaded by the former mayor on the social networking platform Telegram.
According to court documents, Wojahn was charged with 80 counts of possessing and intending to distribute child pornography in March by a grand jury.
In May, a supplemental indictment increased the number of charges to 140. In August, he entered a guilty plea to all 60 charges of child pornography distribution, 40 counts of child pornography possession, and 40 counts of child pornography possession with the intent to disseminate.
In cooperation with the Justice Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, law enforcement identified 52 child victims, some of whom are now adults, among the children featured in the hundreds of images and videos that Wojahn owned and shared.
The victim impact statements, which were read aloud in court, described their struggles with severe anxiety, paranoia, insomnia, trust issues, and a sense of safety.
Several of the victims also claimed that, after being revealed as victims of online child exploitation, they were stalked and had to move their current families and children away from their residences and preferred cities.
Before deciding to send the former mayor to the treatment-focused maximum-security Patuxent Institution in Maryland, the judge highlighted Wojahn’s own personal history as a victim of sexual abuse and heard statements of support from sixteen witnesses who discussed Wojahn’s “history of public service.”
On Monday, he apologized in front of the court.
“I know I contributed to that, and I’m deeply, deeply sorry … I recognize the damage I have caused,” Wojahn said. “I want to be the person they know me to be,” he continued, before addressing his husband.
Former Georgetown University Law School graduate Wojahn, a fervent supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, joined his now-husband in a 2006 lawsuit against the state of Maryland to establish marriage as a legal right for same-sex couples in the state.
Wojahn served on the College Park City Council for eight years prior to becoming mayor in November 2015. Prior to his departure earlier this year, he held that position for seven years.
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